8/17/2006 @ 11:13AM

In Pictures: Rise of the Cyborg

Yoshiyuki Sankai’s Hybrid Assisted Limb (yes, that’s a nod to the haywire computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey) is suit that gives its wearer superpowers: the ability to lift an extra 88 pounds or walk long distances without tiring. The catch–the suit’s battery needs to be charged every five hours. Sankai’s Cyberdyne plans to rent HAL suits for $1,000 a month.

Irobot founders Colin Angle and Helen Greiner wanted to make robots that made money. The Roomba, their best-known offering, has done that, moving 2 million floor-cleaning units since 2002. The more ambitious PackBots, which take on such tasks as bomb disposal in Iraq, sell for $100,000. Next up: a bomb-sniffing robot and a robot lawn mower.

Former street mime Caleb Chung co-created the Furby, a $30 fuzzy toy that “learned” over time–and sold 50 million units. Next year he plans to start selling his next bot: Pleo, a lovable minidinosaur. Pleo was a hit at tech conferences early this year, stoking demand for the $250 toy.

John Hopkins engineering professor Russell Taylor’s star pupil is Da Vinci, a 1,200-pound, $1.5 million set of mechanical arms that help out surgeons doing prostate removals and other procedures. Sleeker, more capable instruments are emerging from his lab.

Last year Stanley, Sebastian Thrun’s souped-up Volkswagen Touraeg, won $2 million by winning a 131-mile race across the Mojave Desert–without a driver. Next up: In November 2007 Thrun will modify a Volkswagen Passat and let it drive itself through a 60-mile race in a city yet to be named.

Biologist Robert J. Full and engineer Mark Cutkosky teamed up to create Stickybot, a 2-foot robot that climbs windows and other vertical surfaces at 1.5 inches a second. The robotic gecko uses hundreds of tiny (10 microns long) stalks in each toe to help it cling to walls.

Soren Lund oversees Lego Mindstorms, the world’s most popular line of robot tool kits. His new Mindstorms NXT retails for $250 and boasts better software as well as a Bluetooth wireless connection. More impressive are the engineers who put the new version together–a hundred hackers who fell in love with the original version.